What is Truth? Supply Management Debate...

[TOM4CWB]

"Facts missing in supply management debate


IndustrialStrategy.ca
Canadians for a Modern Industrial Strategy, 2013-02-
06
As with too many debates on economic issues in
Canada, in the debate on supply management the facts
are being pushed aside by ideological assumptions.

The best example is the amount Canadians pay for
milk compared to other countries. Canadians actually
pay less for milk than consumers in Australia and New
Zealand - like Canada, these countries don't subsidize
dairy farmers - but you would never know that from
reading most opinion pieces opposing supply
management.

Opponents of supply management almost invariably
compare Canadian milk prices to those in countries
where farmers are heavily subsidized. Subsidies to
dairy farmers in the United States, for example, work
out to 31 cents a litre.

What is true is that the share of the milk price going to
farmers is higher than in other countries. But when
that allows Canada to avoid expensive subsidy
programs or the large scale industrial-style farms in
other countries, is that a bad thing?"

http://206.75.155.11/Agcan/m.bbsummaries.asp?
articleId=/agcan/products/news/f0021495.htm

[liberty]

It rarely occurs to defenders of supply mismanagement that taxpayers do, in fact, heavily subsidize the Canadian dairy and poultry sectors. Supply mismanagement is underpinned by sky-high tariffs (200 to 300 percent) on imported dairy and poultry products. Tariffs are simply a tax on imports. People who pay these tariffs are therefore taxpayers. So the cost to taxpayers is actually substantial, not non-existent.

And if Canadian milk is so much cheaper than milk in New Zealand, why aren't we exporting it? The contention that Canadian milk is cheaper than milk in other nations makes no sense whatsoever.

[bucket]

That and the fact that quotas keep out new participants.

Last I heard you don't just fire up a dairy in Canada, unless you have very deep pockets.

I wouldn't want to see it go the way of hog barns, but if the current dairy guys are so efficient, they should have no worries about having their quotas protected???

[TOM4CWB]

"That and the fact that quotas keep out new
participants. "

Buy quota... enter the lottery to get quota... then you
can produce milk.

Not saying it is perfect... or that these folks don't have
issues that need to be fixed. US milk producers have
big problems too... and tax payer subsidies are not
much better... at least if we don't want to buy milk or
cheeses... no need to pay for the extra cost. US
everyone pays... which is much less fair!

[Happytrails]

re the price of milk in New Zealand. It is true that their consumer price for milk is comparable to Canada. At the same time they market 80% of their production out of country. I doubt they get the domestic price for the exports. That they can maintain a high domestic price is understandable considering that the competition is distant. How they can export at lower prices without dumping is beyond me.